However, some of the details in the WSJ report are bewildering. For instance:

Apple is now considering adding USB ports and adopting so-called USB 3.0 technology, a much faster version that promises to transfer data up to 10 times as rapidly as current USB ports, one of the people said.

Later in the article:

The company has also been considering adding ports to connect to a keyboard and mouse, the people said.

If you follow Apple rumors, these details seem unlikely. First, a Microsoft Surface–style traditional USB port on a tablet would almost certainly compromise an iOS device’s thinness. Second, Apple has been moving away from mice — even on its desktops — for years, preferring trackpad gestures.

That’s why I believe the supply chain details in the WSJ need some translation. The “USB 3.0″ technology mentioned could be referring to reversible USB Type C ports. Apple has been tipped to be considering the skinny next-gen connector as the primary port and charger for a future MacBook, and if that were to happen, I think it would make sense to bring Apple’s MagSafe replacement to the bigger iPad, which could have power needs closer to a desktop than a smartphone. The question then becomes whether the USB port replaces the Lightning connector, which is the existing charge and sync port for iOS devices.

The Wall Street Journal says the advantage USB 3.0 provides is faster wired data transfers, which doesn’t strike me as a particular weakness of the existing iPad. However, it also mentions new technology to speed up charging times, which would be welcome.

The keyboard and mouse details are equally confusing. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Apple introduced a keyboard case — many Android and Windows tablets already have first-party keyboard cases, and the success of iPad keyboard accessories shows there’s a market there. But an Apple mouse would require significant changes to iOS to adapt it to an older form of input, which seems unlikely. I think the mouse is more likely to be the iOS smart stylus that was previously rumored. But even then I think there’s a better chance it’s connected through Bluetooth than through a wire.

On Wednesday, Apple was said to have delayed production of the 12.9-inch iPad until September because of supply issues. What could be causing the shortage in displays? One guess is that the delays are due to new high-density screens with a resolution around 4K. However, supply chain rumormonger Digitimes says the reason is a new display technology, Oxide TFT LCD, which has the main advantage of being more power-efficient. Apple has been said to be looking into Oxide TFT LCD technology in the past.

]]>There are lot of great professionally-made videos for kids on YouTube buried in an avalanche of decidedly inappropriate content. Soon, parents won’t have to filter the millions of videos themselves: On Monday, Google is launching a new free Android app aimed directly at kids, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thusrday.

The free app has several family friendly features, including a simple and colorful design, parental controls and ways to set limits on screen time. But the most important part of the app will be its curated roster of kids shows, including videos from popular series such as Sesame Street and Thomas the Tank Engine.

Companies contributing content include Jim Henson TV, DreamWorks TV, Mother Goose Club, The Jim Henson Company, National Geographic, and Reading Rainbow. The mix of content appears to center be mostly shorter web videos as opposed to full episodes — LaVar Burton, host of Reading Rainbow, for instance, will be contributing an “exclusive original series” called uTech. Shows like Sesame Street offer full episodes on YouTube, but those usually require a subscription.

It’s unclear whether Google will be serving advertisements in the YouTube for Kids app, although the Wall Street Journal reports that Google is paying its content partners to to produce original shows. Google will have to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, so it will have to notify parents before collecting identifying information.

A YouTube for Kids product has been a long time coming. Netflix and Amazon Prime Streaming both offer kids sections — Amazon sells a kid-oriented subscription — and there are lots of third-party apps that have tried to fill the child-oriented gap left by YouTube. But the children’s video market is too important to be left to startups, so Google is doing it itself.

]]>Cisco Systems this week offered some insight into just how much mobile data the world is consuming — 2.5 exabytes a month, to be exact – and now a new report from Amdocs sheds a little light on who among those billions of users is consuming the most. Amdocs found that just 10 percent of mobile users are consuming 80 percent of the world’s mobile data traffic.

Amdocs, a telecom equipment maker that specializes in billing and network operations, calls these folks the “Technorati,” and it’s easy to figure out who they are. They’re the consumers sporting not just advanced smartphones and tablets but often multiple connected devices.

Those numbers aren’t simply reflecting a split between wealthy and poor countries. Amdocs’ State of the RAN (industry shorthand for radio access network) reported on 25 million voice and data connections in major cities around the world, all with lots of smartphone usage, and found that power users are often using as much as 10 times more data than the average mobile subscriber. And since the average mobile data user consumed 100 percent more data between 2013 and 2014, Amdocs found, the data growth what for these Technorati is even more amplified.

Amdocs found not just a demographic split in data use, but also a geographic one: 20 percent of cell sites were generating 80 percent of all mobile data traffic. These areas tend to be the urban hot zones where people congregate, but those areas are also increasingly indoors. Amdocs discovered that 80 percent of all data funneled to mobile devices is being consumed indoors, and that means a large portion of it is hitting Wi-Fi, not cellular networks.

So going by Amdoc’s numbers, what we’re seeing is a very stratified network as mobile data takes over – much more stratified than when voice was the dominant mobile service. A handful of people are consuming the vast majority of all data and they’re doing it in very specific locations of the network.

And Amdocs isn’t the only company that’s seeing these trends. Cisco’s Visual Networking Index focused on overall global carrier trends, not just major cities, but it found the top 10 percent of users consumed 65 percent of all traffic. Furthermore, by Cisco’s calculations the highest 1 percent gobbled up 18 percent of all of the world’s mobile data, with each averaging 15.2 GBs per month. Apparently there are even more elite tiers within the world’s data elite.

]]>On Sunday, T-Mobile is unveiling a program that will essentially let customers with bad credit scores to prove their worthiness to the carrier and thus qualify for financing deals that would put the newest and most expensive smartphones in their palms.

Today at T-Mobile, the latest and greatest smartphones aren’t available to customers. Technically anyone can buy a new iPhone 6+ or the newest Samsung Galaxy if they’re willing to pay the full cost of the device, but if you wanted to spread the cost of a $750 smartphone over two years then you need good credit — carriers call that “well qualified” — to qualify for T-Mo’s financing program.

Under the new program called Smartphone Equality, any customer on a voice prepaid or postpaid voice plan that maintains their service or pays their bill on time for 12 straight months will become eligible for all of T-Mobile’s smartphone financing deals. So even if you’re on the most basic feature phone plan, if you make 12 months worth of payments on time, you can immediately upgrade to, say, the iPhone 6+ for $0 down and monthly payments of $27.08 for two years. You can even use the program to finance a tablet.

The program is also retroactive, so if you’re already a T-Mobile customer with a year of on-time payments behind you, you’ll immediately be eligible for the program Sunday. In an interview, T-Mobile VP of customer loyalty Matt Staneff also pointed out that you don’t lose your Smartphone Equality status, so if you finance that iPhone 6 and are late on a payment two months later, T-Mobile won’t suddenly insist you pay the full cost of the device.

About 63 percent of American consumers do not have the highest credit score, which is generally the bar that T-Mobile and other carriers have applied to their most compelling offers, Staneff said, though he didn’t reveal what T-Mobile’s specific credit policies were. Smartphone Equality basically lets T-Mobile make its own internal judgments on a customer’s credit worthiness rather depend on outside reports, Staneff said.

Though this program will qualify a lot of postpaid customers for financed smartphones they wouldn’t normally be eligible for, Staneff said he anticipates it will move a significant amount of prepaid customers into the postpaid category. While many customers prefer prepaid, he said, there are a lot who were forced into a prepaid plan because of bad credit or they refused a credit check. “This is a very simply to way to get them the product they want,” Staneff said.

]]>Three months ago, Apple Pay kicked off a new flurry of excitement about contactless payments. Now the retail industry is in a race to catch up, which is why in the last week we’ve seen a lot of new point-of-sale equipment debut, all geared to process these new types of transactions.

It’s not just that people want to pay for goods with their iPhones. They want to pay — and accept payment — from every manner device, whether its a Android phone or tablet a digital credit card or even a wearable gadget. Consequently that gray box with a numeric punch keypad and card swipe slot is giving way to a whole new generation of hardware.

For instance, VeriFone has decided to make a kind universal point of sale system that will work with any kind of mobile device and mobile payments system.

Called the Mobile PAYware e355, the device has a built-in NFC reader and EMV chip reader, meaning it will accept contactless payments such as Apple Pay, Google Wallet or Softcard as well as new EMV smart chip cards, which will start replacing our old magnetic stripe cards this year. For good measure it also has a mag stripe reader so it can handle today’s credit cards as well as an optional barcode scanner that can read QR code-based payment systems like MCX CurrentC, a mobile wallet being promoted by big box retailers like Best Buy and Walmart.

The device attaches to a mobile phone or tablet either physically with USB or wirelessly with Bluetooth or Wi-Fi so it’s not locked down to, say, the iPad’s lightning dock, and VeriFone says it will be software upgradable in order to connect to any iOS, Android or even Windows device in the future. It’s a pretty smart move by VeriFone, which has traditionally built proprietary point of sale systems, but if retail commerce is moving to the mobile device – on both the consumer and retailer sides of the counter – than VeriFone has to move with it.

As retail commerce becomes more smartphone and tablet centric, we’re starting to see more mobile technology companies move into the retail space. I’m not just talking about Square and its numerous clones. Startups like Poynt and Clover (since acquired by First Data) are focusing their Silicon Valley’s design and programming skills on redesigning the cash register. And now mobile phone makers are getting in on the action as well.

Samsung is taking a shot at payment terminals, announcing at the National Retail Federation Conference this week that it is partnering with VeriFone to make that company’s Android point-of-sale system with its Galaxy Tab Active slate at the center. Panasonic is known for its ruggedized laptops and tablets, and now it’s making a version of its Toughpad for retailers. It boasts a few features you won’t find on your typical slate, such as a hardware PIN pad, EMV and mag stripe readers and a NFC radio.

What we’re seeing, though, is a big convergence of new technologies and policies in the normally staid retail payments market. Apple Pay is one thing, but the coming move away from standard magnetic credit cards in the U.S. to more secure EMV card transactions is necessitating a huge overhaul of current point-of-sale equipment in stores. Companies like Square are making credit card payments available to ever broader cross-section of businesses. And new concepts for universal payment devices like Coin, Plastc and LoopPay are getting a lot of attention.

The countertop hardware at stores is changing, as is the hardware — or plasticware — we’re using to make our purchases. We’re still going to see a lot of the familiar financial industry names when we make our purchases, but Silicon Valley and the mobile industry are rapidly injecting themselves into the retail commerce. Soon, we’ll be just as likely to see Samsung, Apple and Google at the checkout stand as we are VeriFone and Visa.

]]>We expected CES this year to be about connecting everything from watches to toothbrushes to virtual worlds. We did see a lot of connected, crazy gadgetry and more: the FCC’s Tom Wheeler hinted at his net neutrality decision and even Twitter won an Emmy to wrap up a long, weird week in Sin City.

]]>While cellular connected tablets have been around since the launch of the first iPad, many buyers opt for Wi-Fi-only slates for the simple reason of cost. 4G radios make tablet hardware more expensive, and connecting a slate to a mobile network comes with a monthly data bill.

But AT&T is hoping that people who skipped LTE when they bought their iPads have now changed their minds. At the Consumer Electronics Show Tuesday, Ma Bell announced it will soon start selling smart cases that connect Wi-Fi-only iPads to 4G networks. Though AT&T didn’t reveal availability or pricing, it said it will first sell these new Modio cases for the iPad mini, mini 2 and mini 3, followed by versions for the iPad Air and iPad Air 2.

These sleeves won’t just contain radios. They have independent 4,600mAh battery backs, which AT&T says will support 10 hours of continuous surfing. They also come with embedded microSD card slots supporting up to 32GB of additional storage.

Of course, you’ll still be on the hook for data fees, but if you’re already an AT&T customer on a Mobile Share plan, you can add the case to your plan for $10 a month.

]]>This holiday season, Microsoft, joining the rest of the Windows world in eschewing further Windows RT tablets, fielded the productivity-oriented 12″ Surface Pro 3. But when it came to licensees, no price floor seemed too low. Microsoft worked with HP and ASUS to introduce a pair of sub-$200 Intel-based Windows PCs designed to go after Chromebooks. (Microsoft calls the category “cloudbooks”.) While each boasted extensive battery life, their other specs were predictably lackluster, including the lack of a touchscreen, that key component Microsoft once touted as the path to Windows 8’s manifest destiny.

And if the lack of touch may have served as an impediment to the “modern” part of Windows 8.1, HP and Toshiba also offered 7” Windows-based tablets that were rather unfriendly to the desktop part of Windows 8.1. However, they’re available for less than $100, and with certain promotions for less than $70.

The aggressive pricing, particularly on the tablets, in part reflected Microsoft’s decision to drop licensing fees for phones and small tablets in order to more effectively with Google. Largely removing price from the equation laid bare Windows’ advantages and challenges versus its Google rivals in laptops (Chromebooks) and tablets (Android).

When it comes to Chromebooks, Microsoft has a strong advantage in a rich app library. Intel-based Windows laptops can run Chrome, making these cheap laptops something of a Chromebook Plus even though they trade off computing power for simplicity of operation. Indeed, these cheap Windows laptops serve a wake-up call to Google to make faster progress on its offline capabilities, which remain disjointed.

Tiny Windows tablets, though, expose the weakness of the Windows touch app selection compared to Android, which can take advantage of the vast library of smartphone apps without encountering the sparse interfaces that many of these apps exhibit on larger Android tablets. They reinforce the need for Microsoft to get a more touch-friendly version of Office onto Windows.

Taken together, the cheap devices show us the validity and fallacy of the path Microsoft started down with Windows 8. Indeed, Microsoft has one operating system running on disparate devices with different usage cases, but not one where the universal benefits of the platform benefit those platforms equally or even comparably.

That situation will be tested further in 2015 and beyond with Windows 10 as Microsoft doubles down on the motion of “one Windows” — folding in not only Windows Phone but classes of devices including products ranging from the realm of display-free Internet of Things to 80” multitouch displays. Microsoft hasn’t revealed many details of refinements it expects in its touch interfaces. However, and perhaps most importantly, it has communicated that it wants to end “the duality” that plagued Windows 8 and which led to neglect of the desktop in that operating system. The big bet is that a universal application model that spans desktop and tablet interfaces will attract more developer interest than just

But while that may be a better way to get today’s desktop Windows developers to reach over to touch, it doesn’t necessarily entice today’s iOS and Android smartphone and tablet developers — many of whom are heavily focused on mobile experiences — to bring those to an environment that even gracefully transitions to keyboard and mouse. That cheap Windows notebook bought this holiday has worthwhile upgrades in store, but the path is less clear for those small tablets and, even more importantly for Microsoft, Windows phones.

]]>Here’s a nice surprise if you like your tablets with a side of 4G service: T-Mobile has started selling the LTE Nexus 9. It’s the first time this version of Google’s latest tablet equipped with a modem has gone on sale. It’ll cost $599, and T-Mobile also offers an installment payment plan.

Google Play has also started stocking the LTE-enabled Nexus 9 tablet as well. It will ship by December 19, which means it could be a tight fit if you’re hoping to give it as a Christmas present.

As recently as a week ago, the T-Mobile LTE Nexus 9 was delayed and an internal memo indicated that its launch date was still to be determined.

The Nexus 9 sold by T-Mobile, based on an FCC filing, should have the hardware capability to be used with Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint SIM cards as well, depending on whether T-Mobile has carrier-locked the device. I’ve asked T-Mobile and will update when they get back to me.

But there shouldn’t be many reasons why you wouldn’t want your Nexus 9 data provided by T-Mobile. Adding an additional device to your data plan only costs $10 per month, and T-Mobile offers 200 MB of free data per month for cellular tablets.